High School Musical: The Musical: The Holiday Special

The cast of High School Musical: The Musical: The Series...

...will be taking a stroll down memory lane...

...as we share childhood memories...

Uh, I got involved in theater very young.

A couple of bloopers.

Was that okay?

A few surprises.

We are very excited to share a special world premiere.

And a whole lot o' music.

Welcome to High School Musical.

- The Musical. - The Holiday Special!

So this is Arizona.

I know it's not exactly the North Pole, but this is where I've grown up,

this is where I spent almost every Christmas of my life.

Whenever I think of Christmas, I think of my family.

Waking up on Christmas morning, seeing the presents under the tree,

seeing that the cookies and the milk

that we left out the night before is all gone.

And of course, every Christmas needs an elf,

so I luckily have my little dog, Violet.

She is the sweetest thing.

She always opens up presents on Christmas Day,

and it's the funniest thing, and she gets so excited.

Over the years, I have been so blessed

to be able to meet and connect with so, so many people,

so I really wanted to dedicate this song

to all the fans out there who have grown up with me,

and of course, to my amazing High School Musical family.

I miss them so much.

We might not be together for the holidays,

but music always finds a way to bring us back home.

Oh, boy.

So, I grew up right outside San Diego

with five sisters and two wonderful parents

and all the music you could imagine.

My dad was a professional pianist and drummer.

I think each of us have a little bit of that in our blood.

And now, music is obviously such a huge part of my life,

uh, as I write music almost every single day.

Um, and I was fortunate enough in season one

to be given the opportunity to write a song

with my co-star, the lovely Olivia Rodrigo.

And then when season two came around, I was afforded the insane opportunity

to write my own Christmas song, uh, for my character, Ricky,

that he sings to Nini because he can't really afford a gift,

and so he does the second best thing he can,

and that is write her a song.

Writing that Christmas song was a dream.

Um, and I can't believe that I get to say this,

but I am going to be able to perform it for you tonight,

um, for the first time ever.

So, enjoy my song, slash, Ricky's song, The Perfect Gift.

I was born and raised in Selma, California.

And we are the raisin capital of the world,

if that gives you any idea of the town.

Okay. I grew up outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

and I come from a very musical family.

Every Christmas, we would go to my Nana and Pap's house,

and we would all stand on chairs and just sing for all these relatives.

And they would either sing along or just watch adoringly

as we made fools of ourselves as children 'cause we had no fear whatsoever.

I have seen the footage of Joe Serafini singing Feliz Navidad.

Joe's so little.

And he says "From the bottom o' my heart."

It's so cute.

My favorite things about being a part of the cast of High School Musical

is that you have this whole second family.

And it's great, 'cause you have this whole group of people

that are loving and supporting and just there to encourage you.

I grew up singing with my family,

and, uh, you know, as everyone gets older,

we all go our separate ways, and now I have a new duet partner.

And now...

I feel like the person that would give the best homemade gift

would be Julia Lester.

Has to be Julia. She's very into tie-dye.

I feel like Olivia.

She's definitely the most thoughtful when it comes to gifts.

I think Olivia. She will go beyond.

Feel like it'd be Dara.

Dara or Frankie, 'cause they, like, truly, like, think about you.

I remember Frankie got me a present,

and Frankie spent like some money.

So, I would only pick Frankie 'cause I know he not gonna be cheap, so...

Mm, I don't wanna snitch on nobody. Um...

I think Joshua Bassett.

Probably Josh.

- Joshua Bassett. - Joshua Bassett.

Yeah, it's got to be Joshie.

I bet everybody said me, didn't they?

I feel like he's up to no good sometimes.

- He's a little terror. - No way!

Of course they said that. Yeah.

Joe Serafini played Tiny Tim, like, four years in a row.

I played Tiny Tim as a child.

Joe Serafini actually did play Tiny Tim as a kid.

That had to have been Larry.

Was it Kate Reinders as Tiny Tim?

What's Tiny Tim?

What is that?

Ooh!

I grew up in Woodland Hills, California, in a super theatrical family.

My dad, Loren, and my mom, Kelly, met doing theater,

and my sisters, Jenny, Lily, and I grew up doing theater.

We caught that acting bug super early.

So, definitely a lot of musical theater energy

radiating through our household.

Both sides of my family are Jewish,

so we grew up celebrating Hanukkah predominantly.

- Happy Hanukkah. Hanukkah's tomorrow.

Well, are we gonna open the presents?

You sure are. You gonna light the candles?

Open presents?

Yeah, that's right. -

I remember making gingerbread houses with my sisters every year.

Um, but not out of gingerbread, out of graham crackers and frosting,

because again, Jews.

I give you the tower of Julia.

Wow!

So, I got to thinking about what I could sing,

and I could definitely sing you

100 different Christmas songs off the top of my head,

but where's the Mariah Carey version of a Hanukkah song?

So, I thought tonight

I would add a little bit of music video flare to Hanukkah,

and because I'm 100% a theater dork,

and it's literally in my DNA,

I'm going to be doing it as a medley. L'chaim.